I picked up the caliper service parts from Inchcape Derby today – not bad considering the parts were only ordered Wednesday. So far, they’ve always managed to get me bits and pieces for the truck within 48 hours, which does make the sometimes scary prices a little easier to swallow!

The parts I received are as follows:

  • Seal kit (04479-60020), comprising of
    • 8 piston O-rings
    • 8 piston boots
    • 8 boot securing circlips
    • 4 copper washers for hydraulic union
    • 2 bleed nipple dust caps
    • sachet of piston grease
  • 2 bleed nipples (47547-20030)
  • 2 copper hydraulic union bolts (90401-10015)

I figured that as I had the whole thing to bits it would be sensible to swap out all the bits that will invariably have got chewed up over time like the union bolts and bleed nipples, not to mention the fact that I can almost guarantee I’ll sheer something whilst pulling it to bits.

I also picked up five liters of DOT4 brake fluid and some of that brake cleaner spray stuff from Halfords – I’ll flush the brake hydraulics while I’m at it as previously I’ve found seized pistons are as often as not caused by water in the fluid as well as water on the outside of the caliper assembly, and for whatever reason people always seem to not bother flushing brake lines. It’s always quite nice working on a vehicle with ABS as the pump will happily shove the fluid through the lines for you.

Considering that one piston is rather well seized I’m not yet convinced I’ll be able to rescue one of the calipers. If it’s too far gone it’ll go in the bin and have a new one fitted, but if it’s reasonable I tend to find little service jobs like this quite therapeutic :-)

Photos of the service parts: